Whether you're prepping a driveway base, building a French drain, or laying a paver patio sub-base, knowing what a cubic yard of crushed stone weighs determines whether your delivery truck capacity, your driveway load limit, and your equipment can handle the load. This guide breaks down crushed stone weight and how to calculate it for any project.
What Is Crushed Stone?
Crushed stone is bedrock — typically granite, limestone, or trap rock — mechanically broken down into specific sized fragments. Unlike river-tumbled gravel, crushed stone has angular, sharp-edged faces that interlock under compaction, which is why it's the preferred material for structural applications: driveways, drainage trenches, paver bases, and roadway sub-base.
Common sizes range from ⅜" (small format, walkway-friendly) to 1.5" (heavy-duty drainage backfill).
What Affects the Weight of Crushed Stone?
1. Stone Type (Source Rock)
Granite-based crushed stone is the densest at ~2,800-3,000 lbs/cy. Limestone runs slightly lighter at 2,500-2,700 lbs/cy. Trap rock and gabbro can hit 3,000-3,200 lbs/cy.
2. Stone Size & Gradation
Smaller stone packs tighter and weighs more per cubic yard than larger stone of the same source rock. ⅜" crushed stone weighs slightly more per yard than 1.5" crushed stone simply because the smaller fragments fill more of the volume with rock instead of air.
3. Moisture & Compaction
Wet crushed stone weighs ~5-10% more than dry. Compacted (driven over, plate-tamped) crushed stone weighs more per cubic yard than freshly delivered loose stone because there's less air gap between fragments.
Average Crushed Stone Weight Per Cubic Yard
On average, crushed stone weighs about 2,700 pounds per cubic yard. The full range runs from 2,400 lbs (large-format, dry, loose limestone) to 3,000+ lbs (small-format, wet, compacted granite or trap rock).
Quick reference for our most popular Boston-area crushed stone:
- Gray Crushed Rock ¾": ~2,700 lbs/cy
- Gray Crushed Rock 1.5": ~2,650 lbs/cy
- Blue Stone Rock ¾": ~2,800 lbs/cy
- Dense Pack ¾" to minus: ~2,900 lbs/cy (densest — includes fines)
For reference, a full Ottr dump truck load (6 cubic yards) of average crushed stone weighs about 16,200 lbs (8.1 tons).
How to Calculate Crushed Stone Weight
To estimate the total weight for your project:
- Volume needed (in cubic yards)
- Estimated weight per yard (~2,700 lbs as a working average)
Then multiply:Cubic Yards x Weight per Cubic Yard = Total Weight (lbs)
Example:
For a 16' x 40' driveway base with 4" of ¾" crushed stone, you need about 8 cubic yards. At ~2,700 lbs/yard:8 x 2,700 = 21,600 lbs (about 10.8 tons)
For coverage planning: 1 cubic yard of crushed stone covers about 80 square feet at 4" depth, or 162 square feet at 2" top-coat depth.
💡 Tip: Use the calculator on the Gray Crushed Rock ¾" product page to estimate exactly how many cubic yards your project needs based on square footage and depth.
Where to Buy Crushed Stone in Greater Boston
For fast bulk crushed stone delivery across the Greater Boston area, Ottr Landscape Supply is the trusted local source. We carry the full size range — ⅜", ¾", 1.5", dense pack — in gray, blue, and brown.
Order online, pick a delivery date, and we'll dump-truck the load straight to your driveway or job site. No minimum order, same-day and next-day delivery available across Suffolk, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Plymouth County.
Get a Quote or Order Crushed Stone Online Today
Whether you're prepping a driveway base, drainage backfill, or hardscape sub-base, our spec-grade crushed stone is delivered bulk by the cubic yard. Browse our Construction Spec collection for the full contractor lineup of crushed stone, dense pack, and stone fines.
